If you’re diabetic and looking for a way to start a walking exercise routine - or just looking for a way to enliven your usual one - outdoor hiking is beautiful in autumn. You can find parks and walk among the falling leaves or stay on paved trails and view nature’s surrounding colors. Seeing new terrain can jump-start your exercise routine.

The major benefit of exercise for people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes is to prevent heart attack, stroke or diminished blood flow to the legs. It also lowers blood pressure, stress levels, bad cholesterol and improves a person’s weight, which is an important part of type 2 diabetes.

If hiking sounds like it’s up your alley (or trail!), you might want to sign up for your local Sierra Club. You don’t have to be a member to participate in many of the Sierra Club day hikes, peak scrambles, bicycling, bird-watching and more. And all offer great outside exercise for only the cost of the occasional park entry fee. Check out www.SierraClub.com for information on excursions near you.

If you like the idea of walking in the wilderness but aren’t quite ready yet, you can try it out “virtually” at the American Discovery Trail Web site (www.discoverytrail.org), suggests Alan L. Rubin in Diabetes for Dummies, 3rd Edition (Wiley, 2008). The ADT is a walk across the country from Delaware to California.

Rubin suggests trying it “virtually” by converting the steps around your neighborhood to miles to see how far you’ve “traveled” along the 5,048-mile trek. The site has photos and links to things you would “see” along the way. If you have trouble converting your steps into miles, he says, just use the steps and eliminate the last two digits – so 10,000 steps becomes 100 miles.

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